In today’s disruptive world of technology, blockchain stands apart for its applicability across a wide variety of commercial sectors. While cryptocurrency and fintech related applications have received the most publicity, many experts believe that blockchain technology will soon power every data transaction in every industry, be it energy, agriculture, education, government services, personal ID, voting, or healthcare. As understanding and adoption of this technology grows, companies are beginning to see two possible futures. First, blockchain technology offers an opportunity to develop new business lines and services that have previously been unattainable. Second, by replacing trust brokers with cryptographically-provable trust, the distributed ledger-based technology may completely eliminate the need for certain industries.
Sharing his perspective towards blockchain technology and its possible adoption by various buisness enterprise sectors, Frank Ricotta, Founder and CEO, BurstIQ explains, “It has been our experience that most companies, across most industries, are currently evaluating whether blockchain should be a part of their strategic roadmap. However, each company differs as to how they see this technology: as an opportunity, a threat, or potentially both.”
When it comes to the healthcare industry, a multitude of factors are driving its outlook towards blockchain technology. Concerns about patient privacy and data security are weighed against the essential need to share data between providers, health systems, caregivers and other service providers. The healthcare industry knows that the exabytes of health data locked within silos hold the potential for new discoveries – from more personalized care, to new treatments and cures, to reductions in healthcare cost. Unlocking the power of that data will truly transform healthcare for the better, but this can only be achieved if each person is empowered to access and control their own personal health data.
BurstIQ is the only healthcare blockchain company that has successfully solved for these issues. BurstIQ works actively with enterprise health systems, insurers, government agencies and other partners to highlight the opportunities that blockchain can offer their business – helping to design new business lines besides and preparing them for possible disruption to their current business. The company has found that most healthcare companies come to quickly support and accept blockchain technology, knowing that there is a viable path to gain or maintain market leadership as the technology matures. This collaborative, solutions-based approach has helped BurstIQ become the leading blockchain-based solutions provider in the health and healthcare industry.
Leader Possessing A Healthy Balance of Business, Leadership, & Technology Acumen
Frank Ricotta is the dynamic Founder & CEO of BurstIQ, bringing 30+ years of experience in empowering people, building companies, and creating innovative solutions. Frank began his career in the U.S. Air Force, building high capacity data networks and cryptographic solutions for the military. He is a respected leader in the cybersecurity industry, having developed cybersecurity, machine intelligence and secure data solutions across a variety of industries – military, government, healthcare and more.
By 2014, Frank had founded and led multiple successful cybersecurity companies. However, personal experience caused him to turn his attention to healthcare. After receiving three notices that his personal information had been stolen, including one from a federal agency, Frank committed himself to developing a next-generation privacy solution for the healthcare industry. The following year, in 2015, BurstIQ was co-founded by Frank and his longtime friend and colleague, Brian Jackson.
Brian Jackson, the COO and Co-Founder of BurstIQ, has played a key role in the design and development of the BurstIQ platform. An expert in security and enterprise cloud infrastructure platforms, Brian’s leadership in the industry is evidenced by his numerous publications and his ongoing mentorship to large-scale Engineering, DevOps, and Development teams.
Frank and Brian have architected and led the company to remarkable success and strong market positioning. BurstIQ began generating revenue within the first six months of operations. Today, three years since its inception, the company is cash-flow positive and provides blockchain integration services to enterprise healthcare institutions, digital health organizations, insurers, pension funds and government agencies – state, national and international.
A Platform Combining The Power of Blockchain, Big Data, & Intelligence
The BurstIQ Platform is a secure blockchain enablement platform-as-a-service (PaaS), that enables businesses, researchers and people to connect with each other, securely share data and build strong, data-driven partnerships. This transformational platform includes several features that address the unique needs of the modern healthcare industry.
- Data Management: The BurstIQ Platform manages data within a secure, big data blockchain architecture called BurstChainTM. BurstChain leverages the immutability and auditability of blockchain while enabling the scalability, intelligence and big data capabilities needed to support large, complex health data sets. The distributed nature of the network allows BurstIQ to provide a level of data security that goes well beyond what is possible in centralized databases.
- Consent and Data Sharing: The blockchain-based PaaS also allows data owners to set and manage complex permission and access privileges for their data using a feature called Consent Contracts. Consent Contracts allow data to be shared not just as a complete data set, but independently as discrete data elements. Consent Contracts may take many forms, including active creation of a consent contract to grant specific access, informed consent forms and processes such as those required for clinical trials, click-through and end user license agreements, and much more. Blockchain provides transparency, auditability, and cryptographic enforcement of Consent Contracts.
- Global Health Marketplace: BurstChainTM and Consent Contracts provide the foundation for the third major feature of the BurstIQ Platform: the Global Health Marketplace. Consent Contracts offer the ability for a person to share their health information with anyone, anywhere. The Global Health Marketplace then offers the ability for that person to gain value from that transaction. Data becomes a currency by which people can access personalized health products and services, participate in commercial and academic research, engage with their healthcare network and care team, and live their healthiest life. Businesses can offer more personalized health products, reach new customer markets and build new B2B partnerships – all with full transparency and all while maintaining strict individual privacy controls.
BurstIQ’s partners are currently using the BurstIQ Platform for a variety of use cases: attested chain of custody for biologics and sample collection kits, revenue cycle, operational optimization & cost reduction, incentive & engagement programs, personal health record applications, IoT data management, on-chain analytics, machine learning and AI, personalized medicine data management and sharing, interoperability between health information exchanges (HIEs), personalized insurance benefit plans, national health record systems, ID management and ID verification, and provider credentialing.
Setting A High Bar
BurstIQ is the first company to successfully develop and commercialize an enterprise-level, secure blockchain enablement platform for the healthcare industry, offering on-chain big data management, HIPAA and GDPR compliance, customizable consent capabilities and a global health marketplace. Its platform remains the only healthcare-specific blockchain platform that is being actively deployed at scale with large enterprise and government customers.
BurstIQ’s first-to-market advantage and strong customer portfolio certainly increase its credibility and market positioning, and the company is anticipating momentous organic growth over the next two years.
Group of Stalwart Leaders Behind BurstIQ
BurstIQ’s leadership team is highly experienced and highly dedicated. Collectively, the five members of the C-suite have over 100 years of experience, building high capacity secure networks for military, government and healthcare clients. Many of them have worked together at previous companies, in some cases for as much as 20 years.
